voltagegate
Posts by this author
September 19, 2007
"...there are no coyotes in the [Sierra Madre Occidental] mountains, whereas with us there is universal complaint from Alaska to New Mexico that the coyote has invaded the high country to wreak havoc on both game and livestock. I submit for conservationists to ponder the question of whether the…
September 19, 2007
Coyote population densities are much lower in areas where their territory overlaps with wolves, according to a study done by the Wildlife Conservation Society. It's not pure numbers that they're talking about here, it's how many animals can be found within a certain area, and when there's wolves…
September 17, 2007
About a century and a half too late for John Franklin, I'm afraid.
The fact that the sea ice is melting in and around the NW Passage is not news; scientists have been following that progression for many years now, which according to this PR from ScienceDaily has been measured at a average rate of…
September 15, 2007
Another kind comment from a student reader on one of the older biomes posts:
Thanks for posting this! It really helped me get some info for MY "Tropical Dry Forest Biome" project for biology class. I couldn't find any info at the library or on any other sites! So I thank goodness this was here....…
September 15, 2007
Sarda has some great posts for this months edition, perfect with a cup of coffee on a cool Saturday morning.
September 14, 2007
Get your last minute submissions to Sarda now - sardasahney [at] gmail.com.
September 11, 2007
Oekologie #5 is coming to Fish Feet in just a few days. Have you submitted your best ecology/environmental science posts yet?
September 11, 2007
Shelley, Orli and Grrl have amply discussed the untimely death of Alex and the history of his relationship with Irene Pepperberg, so I will say nothing more than how much of an inspiration he was to my fiance. She has been working on a series of paintings depicting animals in famous experiments,…
September 10, 2007
Bill Moyers wrote a piece about surface mining the other day, talking about a recent change to the policy in 2006:
The proposed new rule codifies the 2004 buffer zone proposals and, according to THE NEW YORK TIMES, "seems specifically to authorize the disposal of 'excess spoil fills,' a k a mine…
September 10, 2007
Perhaps the best fair in all of Western PA is the Somerset Historical Society's Mountain Craft Days, which finished up yesterday, under the threat of looming rain clouds. Fortunately, we didn't need to break out the umbrellas this year (nor did I break out the camera - I forgot it, sadly).
It's…
September 4, 2007
Tim Caro from UC Davis and Paul Scholte from Leiden University wrote a "policy piece" , a sort of editorial in the September issue of the African Journal of Ecology, bringing up some surprising trends regarding the decline of antelope populations within national parks. We hear enough about poaching…
September 2, 2007
I found a neat little story about the binturong's eating habits in captivity:
They prefer the sweetest foods, with the exception of their taste for meats. A
partial list: apples, melons of all types, cantaloupes, grapes, pears, kiwi, mangos, star fruits,
avocados, oranges, grapefruit, nectarines…
September 1, 2007
The bints, it turns out, have an interesting evolutionary history.
Recent molecular analysis of the order Carnivora (dogs, cats, bears, seals, bints, etc.) places all subsequent species into two clades (branches): the Caniformia and the Feliformia.
The Caniformia clade contains a staggering array…
August 31, 2007
It's nice when you stumble across some scientific literature that answers a question that's been bugging you. Well, in this case, maybe half of a question.
I've always wondered if there was some connection between an organism's intelligence and its ability to manipulate objects with hands or some…
August 30, 2007
Bint reposts up for the weekend! Let's hope nothing happens to them this time. Everyone have a nice Labor Day.
August 29, 2007
Arthur Kanegis may have written the worst (best?) movie review of all time. Get Leo some green tights, cape and a steamy cup of shade grown.
Speaking of garbage, Ben Stein has sided with the IDers and will play a central role in a sinister new documentary called Expelled. If you haven't heard…
August 29, 2007
On the way home from the mountains Sunday night, I was decelerating around one of those lovely Pennsylvanian descending hairpin curves just as a big white dog trotted casually up the slope in the middle of the road. I swerved to avoid it, fully into the opposing lane, barely missed.
I swung the car…
August 27, 2007
PZ mentioned the "aquatic ape" hypothesis (AAH) this morning, a relatively obscure speculation about human evolution, and I thought I'd share a two part radio program (or programme) that David Attenborough narrated a few years ago. The notion that humans have an aquatic past might be far fetched,…
August 26, 2007
The binturong posts were supposed to last all weekend, but Blogger was down the day I left for the mountains and I couldn't access my archives. I tried to find a wireless signal in podunk PA, but that little venture was doomed before it began. Sorry about the slackage; I'm going away for Labor Day…
August 23, 2007
When we think of communication, foremost on our mind is our own sophisticated means of language - writing and speaking mainly - communicating ideas or concepts through our manipulation of sound and symbology.
Evolutionarily speaking, this is a recent development; there are certainly no written…
August 21, 2007
One of our geography profs, who is teaching a storm chasing class over the summer, was featured on Good Morning America this past Sunday:
"I think it's important the general public begins to understand the concept of inquiry-based science education, which is what this course is all about, and that…
August 18, 2007
I blogged about a study of tropical dry forests in southern Madagascar a while back where the researchers found that the rates of deforestation had dropped in recent years. The challenge was to find out exactly why.
Ecologists studying deforestation in the Amazon may have a similar challenge. The…
August 16, 2007
The next ESA/SER meeting is right up my alley:
Drawing from a wide range of case studies that illustrate the potential effects of climate on disease dynamics, a series of presentations to be held at the joint meeting of the Ecological Society of America and the Society for Ecological Restoration…
August 13, 2007
"Without knowing it, we utilize hundreds of products each day that owe their origin to wild animals and plants. Indeed our welfare is intimately tied up with the welfare of wildlife. Well may conservationists proclaim that by saving the lives of wild species, we may be saving our own."
- Norman…
August 13, 2007
I found this article on Reuters this morning that tries to spin old news into a fresh bit of controversy:
Doctors recommend a good dose of salmon or tuna in the diet because of its benefits to the heart. But is it good for the environment?
Surging demand for salmon in particular has been spurred…
August 12, 2007
James from Direction not Destination is hosting Oekologie in three days, so get your submissions in now!
We need hosts starting next February. If you're interested, shoot me an e-mail: thevoltagegate [at] gmail.com.
August 11, 2007
Check out these human anatomy models from La Specola Museum in Florence. Perhaps not as ambitious as Body Worlds, but they are beautifully rendered.
Do people really faint when they see these? I find that hard to believe. I also find it hard to believe that they let that guy host this clip.
August 11, 2007
I meant to post on this earlier this week, but things have been hectic lately.
The National Resources Defense Council released their review of 3,500 beaches in the US, organizing data on pollution, the frequency of closings and the level of monitoring in these areas. Of the six worst beaches,…